Cowles Montessori Crier

“Human flourishing, as Maria Montessori put it, means becoming a person of one’s time and place with the means and wherewithal not only to function within but to shape society (NCMPS, 2019).”

“All humans (CHILDREN and ADULTS) flourish in society (ENVIRONMENT).” - Cowles Montessori Vision

Our beloved Instructional Coach, Deb Schroeder, passed away early morning on Saturday, April 25th. Deb was recently receiving treatments at the Mayo Hospital in Rochester, MN. Her health took a turn very quickly late last week. Deb will be greatly missed by the current and former Cowles students, families, and staff. She shared her joy of books and reading with everyone, she loved to learn about inquiry-based instruction, and she advocated for STEM to be integrated into the Montessori method, among countless other things. She always talked about her work family and how much she loved being with the staff and children at Cowles. We will update you as soon as we know more about visitation and funeral arrangements, and we will conduct a ceremony for Deb as a school community.

"In life, we loved you dearly, in death we love you still. In our hearts you hold a place, no one else will ever fill." - Unknown

#heartsintheheights was created for Windsor Heights, Iowa residents and businesses showing their love for our community by placing hearts in their windows for neighbors to see as we practice social distancing. There is no such thing as too much love! Post hearts in your windows and attach #heartsintheheights when posting on social media.

Technology Support:

For technological assistance, email us at: bts.cowles@dmschool.org

DMPS@Home:

• The main place to go for accessing information and support for distance learning:
• https://www.dmschools.org/onlinelearning/

DMPS Canvas Coursework:

To access your child's Canvas Course, go to: https://dmschools.instructure.com/

• The username is (your student ID #)@student.dmschools.org
• The default password is the child’s birthdate: MMDDYYYY

Microsoft Teams

You will receive a calendar invite from your child's teacher to Join the Microsoft Teams Meeting for Virtual Class Gatherings and 1-on-1 check-ins. There are 3 ways to join Microsoft Teams (App, web page, phone call):
- Step 1: Click on "Join Microsoft Teams Meeting" in the calendar invite

- Step 2: It will pull up another page, in the middle it will say:

• "Already have the Teams app? Launch it now". Click on "Launch it now". Click on "Join Meeting"
• OR you can "Join on the Web instead". Click on "Join Meeting"
• OR you can receive a phone call from the Teams app (it will have a 319 area code)

- Step 3: Mute your mic. There tends to be a lot of unwanted audio feedback if too many people have their mic turned on. You or the teacher can turn the mic on if it's your child's turn to speak.

Dear Families,

We hope you and your families are well, staying safe and practicing physical distancing. The Garden Committee has a couple of exciting things happening that we need some assistance from you to make it successful.

1) We want to use our garden beds to create a community garden similar to Victory Gardens from the World Wars. We will plant a variety of vegetables that can be harvested throughout the summer and fall. If you are interested in helping to plant that would be great. Please sign up below. We are looking at planting around May 11th.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805084AACAC23AA8-garden

2) We have over 260 plants arriving in mid-late May for our pollinator garden and will need help putting them in the ground. Their will be plant stakes of which plants go where so you won't have to guess.

For both, we estimate about 30-60 minutes of time. Only one family at a time for planting to maintain our physical distancing and keeping everyone safe. One member of the garden committee will be there to oversee it. Times will be arranged later, but maybe in the comments, you can let us know the preference between A.M. and P.M. preference. Finally, the building will not be open.

As you have questions, please feel free to contact someone from the garden team.

adam.egherman@dmschools.org

savannah.calaway@dmschools.org

jennifer.gelner@dmschools.org

Thank you for helping!

For all humans to flourish in our current society, we are exercising “social distancing” during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this process is to slow the spread of the virus. It is a collaborative effort to “flatten the curve,” which is a process to reduce the number of individuals needing medical attention and to not overwhelm the current health care responders with those in need. This means that students are not able to attend and learn in their traditional school environments. Distance learning programs were developed to ensure the highest level of safety for our school community and to continue the academic growth and development of our students.

• The Cowles building remains closed
• As soon as we are granted permission, we will schedule times for staff and families to enter the building safely to gather their belongings
  
• Online distance learning is scheduled to begin on Monday, April 27th

#WeAreCowles

Email: todd.johnson@dmschools.org
Website: cowles.dmschools.org
Location: 6401 College Avenue, Windsor Heights, IA, USA
Phone: 515-242-7818
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CowlesMontessori/
Twitter: @CowlesDMPS